The Rewards of Mentoring

Over the years, a source of great satisfaction for me has been watching young people I have mentored find the ground under their feet as they emerge as leaders in Lionism. One of the first of these is Lion Sarah Nathan, one of my forensics students who joined the Fargo (ND) Lions Club shortly after graduating from Concordia College. It wasn’t long before she was serving as Club Secretary, attending district and multiple district conventions, and continuing her service on the district cabinet as the public relations/online newsletter editor for several District Governors. Today, after completing her masters and doctorate studying philanthropy, she is a member of the Fargo E-Lions Club as she begins her career as an assistant professor of nonprofit management and philanthropy at Bay Path College in Longmeadow, MA, USA.

The most recent of these emerging young leaders is Lion Jade Monroe who joined the North Dakota State University-Fargo (ND) Campus Club as a sophomore. Her energy and enthusiasm persuaded club members to elect her as Membership Chair, then President. As DG Katherine Tweed was organizing her cabinet, I suggested Lion Jade as a possible Zone Chair and DG Katherine took it from there. Now, as a senior, Lion Jade is the Zone

6A Chair in District 5NE. Yesterday, she led her first zone meeting with an agenda that included updates from the LCI website, promotion of social media outlets, planning for the upcoming state and multiple district conventions, and a well-organized and presented program on Leader Dogs. It wasn’t long before the club officers present agreed to conduct a zone project to raise funds for Leader Dogs later this year. It was so rewarding to watch her as she set up the room, organized materials, welcomed the club

leaders, led an ice-breaker, facilitated the program, responded to questions, and sent the group on its way excited about the plans they had made. She even brought home-made chocolate chip cookies! If anyone has doubts about the next generation of Lions leaders, rest assured. –Lion Robert

Thought of the Week

“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though.”